


out of love, again, oh you make me move

by ThisLove



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Cute, Fluff, Happy Ending, M/M, Misunderstandings, Time Skips, Tutoring, i failed at the angst tag i'm sorry, implied hendery/xiao jun, it ended up being not really enemies to lovers, it was supposed to be enemies to lovers, jaemin and haechan are mentioned, renjun and yangyang are bffs and i love this concept
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 03:48:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17759219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThisLove/pseuds/ThisLove
Summary: If you asked Renjun, he wouldn’t know how to explain whatever his story with Lucas was. Or his story with Yukhei, now that he knew his name. He just knew that they had a 'story' on school even though they never exchanged a word (not that Renjun remembered at least).





	out of love, again, oh you make me move

**Author's Note:**

  * For [M_0498](https://archiveofourown.org/users/M_0498/gifts).



> hello, this is my last work for the Allrenzine event! it's dedicated to mari, the one who listens to my rants about luren and creates plots with me, and to mare from twitter! ♥
> 
> the prompt: **High School Au. Person A plays basketball, is the best player in the team, he's also very charismatic and at the top of all of his classes. Person B swims, he's very popular and although he's very smart, he can't seem to grasp (some subject). Everyone (even A and B) thinks they're enemies as they both are the most popular and the best students. As Person A is assigned to help Person B in said subject, will they overcome their unfounded hostility?**
> 
> i couldn't do the angst part of it because i'm WEAK sorry... i don't know if the prompter will like it, but i hope so! i really liked writing it and i hope you like reading it ♥
> 
> this isn't beta'ed and english isn't my first language, so i'm sorry for mistakes! i'll edit everything later :) title is from nct dream's la la love because i love it :D

Renjun stared dejectedly at his test, noticing that all the hard work he had put on his studying went to waste. His teacher looked at him sadly, but Renjun didn’t feel like she was disappointed with him, since she always helped him a lot. It was more like she hoped that Renjun had improved his skills and it didn’t go well.

After all his colleagues had left the room for the next class, Renjun remained there for a while, to see if there was anything he could do to recover his grades until the end of the year. He tried asking for extra homework and tried to see if teacher Yu Er could help him after classes.

“I could help you with the extra activities, but I’m afraid you’ll have to get some tutoring too. We are going to approach more difficult subjects now, and you’ll have to learn them to keep pace with the rest of the class, Renjun,” Teacher Gao Yu Er said, while she looked at Renjun’s test again.

“Oh, okay,” Renjun said in a defeated way. He was already busy with school things, he had swimming too, and now he’d have to add English to his list. “Teacher, do you know someone who could help me? I don’t think I know anyone who teaches English here.”

“Wait a minute,” his teacher said, and then she started to read something in one of the notebooks on her table. “Uh, do you know Wong Yukhei from third year? I think he isn’t tutoring anyone at this moment…”

“Yukhei?” Renjun asked, trying to see if the name rang a bell. He couldn’t remember anyone that went by that name.

“Yes, he’s on the basketball team,” Teacher Yu Er explained. “You can see if any of your friends know him, to help you get in contact. If not, tell me next class so I can talk to him about it for you,” she offered.

“Thank you, teacher… Goodbye,” Renjun bowed quickly, getting his backpack to leave for his next class.

 

Turns out that finding the person he needed wasn’t that difficult, even more when Renjun had Liu Yang Yang as his best friend.

“I’ll tell you who Yukhei is but first tell me why are you interested? I didn’t think you would ever want to have anything to do with him,” Yang Yang said, while munching on a snack.

“I’m not interested, I need to know who he is,” Renjun protested, while he drank his juice. “My English teacher said that he could help me with English stuff… Aren’t German and English from the same family language? You could help me, Yang!”

“Uh, I know some things about English but I don’t know how to teach anything,” his friend pouted. “And they are not the same language, there are differences that are hard to explain since I’ve haven’t been practicing German lately…”

“Oh, I get it… It’s okay,” Renjun nodded at him. “But please tell me what you know about Yukhei. You’re beating around the bush and it looks like you don’t want to tell me who he is!”

“Right, then, I’ll tell you…,” Yang Yang rolled his eyes. “Well, he’s Kunhang’s friend,” he started, “and Yukhei also goes by the name of Lucas on the basketball team…”

“Lucas?” Renjun felt his stomach drop.

Shit. He does know who Yukhei is, then.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

If you asked Renjun, he wouldn’t know how to explain whatever his story with Lucas was. Or his story with Yukhei, now that he knew his name. He just knew that they had a 'story' on school even though they never exchanged a word (not that Renjun remembered at least).

Lucas (or Yukhei, Renjun was still having trouble with this new name) was one of the best students at WayV High, and the best player of the basketball team. He was popular and charismatic and people talked about him for days after every basketball game.

Renjun wasn’t as popular, but he also had some “fans” if you could call it that. He was top of his classes (minus the English one of course) and one of the best swimmers of the school - he had already won a city tournament and stuff.

Maybe that’s how it had started: people always compared the two of them. Renjun always heard people talking about his victories and saying that Lucas had also won something bigger or vice versa. Rumor was it that they hated each other because they wanted to be better than the other.

Renjun didn’t understand it because he truly didn’t care about Lucas achievements...?! He was too busy with his own grades to care about some senior’s doing. So he didn’t really hate the Yukhei guy because he didn’t even think about him to feel any kind of thing. He mostly felt indifferent about him. He didn’t know if Lucas hated him, though, because the rumor was pretty strong about Lucas wanting to humiliate Renjun whenever he played basketball.

(Which didn’t make sense because Renjun and Yukhei participated on different sports, and you couldn’t compare their abilities because they were totally different too. People were dumb, sometimes.)

Anyway. Renjun would have to ask said Lucas for some help in English and he really hoped that the hate thing wasn’t as bad as it seemed. Really. He didn’t want to deal with someone who didn't like him because of school rumors or even have to plead for help to someone who couldn't stand him. He also didn’t want to start hating the other guy just to make the feeling mutual.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Renjun thought hard about how he would go about asking for help.

He wanted to talk with Yukhei after school, but he didn’t want to do it in front of the whole school. If the rumors we're strong even when they didn't talk to each other, Renjun couldn’t imagine what would be the school’s gossip if they were seen together. He thought about asking Yang Yang for help, since he knew a lot of people at school, but then he remembered that his friend would keep teasing him before doing anything.

In the end, Renjun decided to go after the best option – or at least what he guessed was the less bad one – and would try to talk with Kunhang first. If Yang was right and he was Yukhei’s friend, then maybe Renjun could ask him for help on how to talk with Lucas without an audience.

On the next day, Renjun went to school earlier than he used to, and waited until he could see Kunhang arrive. It didn’t take long for Renjun to see him, and luckily he was alone.

“Kunhang?” Renjun called the other boy, when he got to the school gates.

“Hi?” Kunhang frowned at Renjun.

Thinking about it, it did seem weird, the way Renjun knew Kunhang’s name and stuff… possibly because they hadn’t ever talked before.

“Hi! Sorry, I’m Renjun, Yang’s friend,” he bowed a little. They greeted each other and Kunhang introduced himself again, only after that noticing again that Renjun already knew his name. Renjun laughed because he seemed nice. “I need your help, if it’s not trouble,” he smiled a bit.

“Uh, okay…?” the other boy scratched the back of his neck, “what do you need?”

“Ah,” it was Renjun’s time to stammer a bit. “You’re Lucas’ friend, right? Do you think you could tell him to talk to me after school?”

“You want to talk to Lucas?” He asked bemused. “Wow…”

“Is it really that surprising?”

“Uhm, It’s like I’m not sure if you’re serious or if you want to play some trick on me because I wouldn’t think that you’d want to ever see Lucas in front of you…”

“Huh, I guess the rumors are bad then,” Renjun sighed.

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing,” the younger boy shook his head. “It’s just… I need to talk to him about something, and people already talk a lot so I thought that maybe if we met outside school it would be less crowded. And better to the both of us…”

“It makes sense,” Kunhang nodded.

“Yeah, and since you’re his friend I thought of asking you this, because then me talking to you would be less of a scene than me going after Lucas at seven in the morning. The school wouldn’t shut up about it for the rest of the week…”

“Yeah, yeah, you’re right,” he agreed. “I think I can help you… Do you know NCT Café? It’s near the community basketball court…”

“Ahh, I know where it is,” Renjun answered.

“I’ll tell Lucas to go there, but maybe you should go in the afternoon? There will be less school people there I guess…”

“Yes. Maybe at five? If he’s not busy. I can go to NCT Café after my swimming classes…”

“Okay then, I’ll pass him the message,” Kunhang smiled cutely. “Give me your number, so that I can confirm with him and send you more information about it.”

“Thank you,” Renjun said while the two exchanged cell phone numbers.

Renjun went to class feeling like he could be friends with Kunhang if things went well with his friend Yukhei and they didn’t hate each other.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Renjun got to NCT Café a little before five pm since he liked to be on time for things. His hair was still wet from his swimming class, but he didn’t mind it since it was a hot day outside and he felt fresh because of it.

The NCT café was one of Renjun’s favorite places in the world, and he was glad that Kunhang had suggested this place for his meeting with Yukhei. If things didn’t go well, at least Renjun could stay here and talk to the owner Kun and Renjun’s college friend, the barista Sicheng.

Maybe Renjun should come here more often, bringing his cousin Chenle with him so that they could get some free sweets from Qian Kun as he always did share free stuff…

Sitting at a table on the back, Renjun was glad to see that there were a few college students in the café, but not anybody that he knew from school. He sipped on his bubble tea calmly, looking outside the window and thinking about the homework due to next day.

“Renjun?”

Said boy turned his face in the direction of the unknown voice, looking up to see the Wong Yukhei in front of his table.

“Hello,” Renjun said eloquently (only not). He never had noticed how tall the other boy was. “Why don’t you have a seat?”

“I’m just going to order something and then I’ll be back,” the other boy offered, and then went to do what he said.

Renjun watched Yukhei with Kun and Sicheng, seeing that they seemed to be friends too. Maybe Kunhang did choose the place for Yukhei too. When the other boy was back, he sat at Renjun’s table and sipped at his drink, looking expectantly at him.

(It was a bit uncomfortable, but Renjun wasn’t great with people, even more with someone whom he didn’t know anything about and who supposedly hated him.)

“So, Yukhei—“

“Why do you hate me?”

Both boys talked at the same time, and both got surprised at the fact that they started going in different directions on the subject.

“What?” Renjun was the first to break the new silence that had fallen over them.

“Sorry,” Yukhei apologized, while he looked at Renjun. “It’s just. When Kunhang told me that you wanted to talk to me I was almost expecting that you wouldn’t show up or that you were going to do something to me…” He admitted sheepishly.

“Oh,” the younger boy furrowed his eyebrows. What did Lucas think of him? “I wouldn’t do anything bad to you,” he said in a way that sounded like it should be obvious. “And I don’t hate you… In fact I think that you are the one who hates me…”

“I don’t hate you?! We don’t even know each other…”

Renjun was glad to hear that first part.

“Exactly what I thought.”

“So why do I always hear about you wanting to fight with me?” Lucas asked, bobbing his head a little.

“Probably for the same reason that I hear about you wanting to punch me whenever I win a swimming tournament,” Renjun shrugged.

“That’s messed up,” Yukhei looked sad. “Why do people say these things, then? If you don’t hate me and I don’t hate you…”

“Well, you are the best player the school has and is one of the best students out there. I’m the school’s main swimmer and apparently the one who’s trying to rob your basketball throne…”

“As if basketball and swimming were in the same category in the first place,” Yukhei snorted, smiling for the first time in that afternoon.

Renjun thought that it was a good look on him.

“I know, right? It doesn’t make sense at all.”

“Let's start over then,” the other boy offered. “Hello, I'm Wong Yukhei or Lucas if you prefer and I don't hate you…”

Renjun giggled.

“I'm Huang Renjun, and I also don't hate you, Wong Yukhei…”

“Did you know that my Mandarin family name is Huang too? We can be double Huang!”

The two boys started chatting about other things (Renjun discovered that Yukhei could also be known as Xuxi) and they hit it off pretty well.

As everything had been cleared out between them, Renjun thought that maybe he had a chance to get tutored by the other boy, since he seemed to be okay with Renjun and not hate him or anything. At some point, Renjun told Yukhei about his need for help, as it was what he had intended to do ever since the first sentence he was going to say that afternoon, and was surprised to see that the other boy agreed with it quickly.

Renjun explained the English subjects that were his weaknesses and Yukhei nodded at everything, saying that he also had doubts when he started studying English but that he knew about the subjects that Renjun asked about.

They arranged a study session for the next day, after school and before their respective practices – Yukhei, the basketball one and Renjun the swimming one. It would happen at the community library, since they still didn’t want the school to see them together and end up creating a fuss over their acquaintanceship.

“Thank you again, Yukhei,” Renjun smiled slightly, once he and Yukhei were leaving the café. “And I’m sorry if you heard anything bad that I supposedly wanted to do to you,” he laughed a bit.

“You’re welcome and it’s okay,” Yukhei grinned, “I’m sorry too, if that’s the case. See you tomorrow!”

“See you, too,” Renjun waved, and then they parted ways.

Renjun feeling like he could make two new friends in a day? More likely than Donghyuck and Jaemin, his internet friends, think!

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

/

 

moomjun: yang!!!!!  
moomjun: guess what  
moomjun: i met up with lucas

 

2yang: what  
2yang: what happened renjun  
2yang: did u fight?

 

moomjun: lol no  
moomjun: he's cool  
moomjun: he says he doesn't hate me  
moomjun: and I don't hate him either

 

2yang: that's… good?  
2yang: and what about it

 

moomjun: he's going to help me with English  
moomjun: !!!!!!

 

2yang: congrats then :)  
2yang: will this be a real life fanfic where u two fall in love  
2yang: ?

 

moomjun: yang pls stop reading that stuff

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Renjun didn't think that it was possible to have that much fun while studying English, but with Yukhei he discovered that it could indeed be nice and educative.

After his first tutoring, he felt like Yukhei had good abilities when teaching that it was rare to see on highschoolers. (Or maybe Renjun was biased already. But nobody would ever hear it from him…)

The weeks passed and their study sessions didn't stay confined to the libraries, going to open air spaces and artistic events that could improve even if some sentences of Renjun's learning. Renjun wouldn't dare to say it out loud but they seemed like study dates (sometimes just dates) and his poor heart was doing a bad job at protecting itself from a sudden crush on Yukhei, the high school sweetheart.

(Teacher Yu Er also kept giving Renjun extra work and he was grateful for having Yukhei to help him whenever he needed some confirmation about being right or wrong.)

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Renjun was trying some English words out, while he and Yang Yang hang out, when the other started to talk.

“When did you watch Spiderverse? I thought you were going to go with me,” Yang Yang pouted, staring at Renjun from where he was sprawled over the couch at Renjun’s house.

“You said you didn’t want to watch it anymore?” Renjun asked with a frown. “And I wasn’t going alone to the cinema, but Xuxi said he wanted to watch it so I went with him…” He shrugged.

“Who’s Xuxi? Was it a date? Oh my god but I thought you—“

“Xuxi is Yukhei!” Renjun interrupted his friend before he could say something embarrassing for him. “And it wasn’t a date. We watched it because it was a funny movie and also because he wanted to teach me some vocabulary about cartoons and he thought it would be cool to watch it with subtitles…”

“Oh… that explains a lot, that you went with him…” Yang Yang nodded to himself. “I didn’t know that Yukhei had another nickname beside Lucas.”

“Xuxi is not a nickname, it’s his Mandarin name,” Renjun explained.

“Ahh, like Kunhang’s name is Guanheng?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know what’s funny?” Yang Yang smirked, and Renjun was sure that whatever his friend said wouldn’t be a good thing for him. “I’ve heard only Kunhang’s boyfriend calling him by his Mandarim name. Just like you do with Yukhei… That’s cute, right?”

(Yang Yang should’ve really have expected the chokehold that Renjun gave him after that.)

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

When it was time to get his grades for his first test after getting tutored by Yukhei, Renjun didn’t get that nervous when he received the results. It wasn’t an amazing grade but it was way better than his previous one and he had improved a lot. His teacher complimented his speaking and said that she knew that Renjun could do it if he had some kind of help.

(Renjun really liked teacher Yu Er and how she always wanted to help her students.)

Yukhei was proud of him too and he decided to reward him by taking Renjun to the ice skating rink on the other side of the city.

(It did feel like a date, again, even more because Renjun and Yukhei kept holding hands to give each other balance, and Renjun didn’t ever want to let go of that feeling.)

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Since Yukhei and Renjun didn’t feel like hiding their friendship at about one month after they started talking, the rumors of the story between them kept getting more and more creative each time, even more because it was almost the end of the school year now.

Some people said that Renjun and Yukhei had been friends before they became enemies and now were friends again. Some swore that they were pretending to be friends so that everyone would leave them alone (which, Renjun would understand the point if they had been doing that). And the last ones were that Renjun and Yukhei were enemies who became friends and then lovers.

(Renjun snorted at that one because his life is not some story like the ones that Yang Yang reads on the internet. Okay, maybe he’d be okay with the lovers part of that story but—)

Renjun and Yukhei started to watch each other’s competitions and cheered for each other too. Renjun showed support in a subtle way, but Yukhei once brought a sign with Renjun’s name and held it when Renjun had to do his laps (cheering loudly for everyone to hear). Luckily, nobody could see what was blushing and what the water effect on somebody’s face was otherwise Renjun would be caught red faced because of a crush on his friend.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

It was after the results of Renjun’s very last English test that Renjun felt like all his hard work had really paid off in the end. He did get a great grade (it was one of the best of his class) and he felt like crying a bit when his teacher congratulated him once more.

Seeing as people still talked about them without ever knowing anything, Renjun and Yukhei started going to the NCT Café soon after school, as they had time now and didn’t care about other school colleagues being there.

Renjun was sipping on another bubble tea (he was really addicted to it) while Yukhei drank some orange juice. They were sharing a cake, courtesy of Kun when Renjun told him he had done well on his test and Yukhei praised him for his hard work in front of their friends.

(Renjun blushed again, and this time there wasn’t any way to conceal it.)

“I’m so happy,” Renjun sighed, after finishing his bite of the cake. “I can’t believe I got good grades and actually learned a lot of stuff. Thank you so much, Xuxi, I don’t think I could’ve have done this without you,” he smiled.

“Ah, you did all the hard work, Junie,” Yukhei shrugged. Renjun could swear that he was blushing a bit, but maybe it was the lighting on the Café. “I just helped with what I could but you were the one who kept practicing and trying to learn. You did a good job,” he praised Renjun one more time.

“Thank you, again,” the younger boy bowed slightly. “I’m glad that the English tutoring brought us together.”

“Me too,” Yukhei grinned a bit, before getting another piece of cake to eat.

There was a comfortable silence after that, both boys enjoying each other’s company, already used to one another’s presence.

Suddenly, Renjun heard Yukhei chuckle a bit in front of him.

“What happened?”

“Ah, nothing,” Yukhei kept smiling, “I just remembered that the first thing I asked you was why did you hate me. I didn’t even say hi to you right,” he seemed amused to himself.

“I didn’t ask that but I also thought that you hated me and were going to confront me about it,” Renjun giggled a bit. “I’m glad we were both wrong and we like each other now,” he concluded.

Yukhei agreed with him and then they ordered another piece of cake, since the one they had been sharing had already been eaten.

When Yukhei was back, just like he had done the first time they sat at that very table together, he startled Renjun with a question.

“Why do you like me, Junie?”

Just like it happened months ago, Renjun was surprised by Yukhei’s forwardness. This time, though, he didn’t have any quick defense ready.

“W-what why are you asking this?” The younger boy spluttered for a bit, trying to recompose himself.

Why did he like Yukhei? Did he want it in a numbered list or maybe by alphabetical order?

“I’m kidding!” Yukhei must have noticed how uneasy Renjun felt, since he tried to reassure him by tapping his hand. “I just wanted to joke about the first time we met,” he explained.

And Renjun had fallen right into the trap. Really, he thought that years of being friends with the Liu Yang Yang would have prepared him for the worst already.

He stared at Yukhei for a while, trying to think about how he should proceed. He could joke about it and pretend like he didn’t really have hundreds of reasons to like Yukhei or he could be honest (to himself) and tell Yukhei how much he really did like him.

(Renjun’s mother always said that he spent a lot of time on his head being rational (too much for a teenager) and that sometimes he could really do what his emotions wanted instead. He decided to listen to her advice this time, and listen to his heart. If it didn’t end well, he’d make her listen to his whining until he graduated high school next year because it would be her fault.

Not really, but Renjun’s a dramatic teenager, okay.)

“I’m gonna need some time to make it,” Renjun started talking after a while, making Yukhei look at him in a confused way. He seemed like a lost puppy and Renjun really loved that thing his face did when he didn’t understand something. It surely would be on the list _things I like about Huang Xuxi_. “The things,” he said in a very incoherent way.

“What?”

“The list of things I like about you,” Renjun said, and blushed right after. So much for being coherent. “You asked me why I like you, and I’m saying that I need some time to gather all information in a list,” he tried to smile, hoping that it didn’t look like a grimace.

“Oh,” Yukhei exclaimed, and this time Renjun was sure that it was a blush on his face.

Renjun did: that.

He wasn’t ready for when Yukhei recovered from his surprise and beamed at him.

Yukhei’s smiles were another thing for the list. Renjun should really write it down before he forgot something.

“Uhm, maybe I should make one of these too, since there are a lot of things to say,” the older boy pursed his lips.

Renjun felt his face get warm too and he looked down for a while, trying to contain his smile by biting his lip. He heard Yukhei whispering something along the lines of _“one more thing to add to it,”_ and he couldn’t help but laugh.

“Tell you what,” Yukhei started talking again, and Renjun finally looked up to stare at him. He was still smiling and Renjun’s heart was beating too quickly again. “I think we should really make these lists and gift it to each other,” he offered shyly.

“Okay.”

“And I also think that it should count as dating thing,” he smiled again. “Would you be okay with that?”

If Renjun would be okay with that? Listen, he would be more than okay, he would be—

“I think that’d be great…” He answered with a beam of his own.

 

(On Renjun’s last year of high school, he still was one of the best students of his class and he still kept winning his swimming championships. Yukhei had graduated so the gossip about the two being enemies/friends/lovers had ended. Since the next star of school ended up being Renjun’s cousin, Chenle, people didn’t think that they were rivals or anything so there wasn’t any rumor about the two of them hating each other.

Renjun still had some “fans” and people who wanted to be friends with him, but he mostly kept to himself, since he was too busy worrying about his future to pay attention to being popular. He had Yang Yang, Chenle, Kunhang (who hung out with him sometimes and introduced him to Xiao De Jun), the people from NCT Café, Yukhei and his internet friends. He felt like he had the best people with him already.

People also stopped trying to woo him or to confess to him since it was a known thing around the school that Huang Renjun of third year dated Wong Yukhei from SM University.

It was also a known thing that Renjun started to love his English classes because he got the hang of it – and because it always reminded him of how he truly met Lucas, but this last one was a secret between him and his boyfriend.)

**Author's Note:**

> the story is set somewhere in china, and yukhei and hendery's names on this were their cantonese ones for plot purposes ^^
> 
> thank you for reading it and for supporting allrenzine's works! please let me know what you think ♥
> 
> [eme](https://twitter.com/myuntaeil).


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